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Chapter Eleven
Her breathing was heavy as she ran through the dark. Please, someone… “RIRI?!” “BIX—” A scream was heard. It was hard to tell if it was a happy scream or one of something entirely else. Riri snapped awake, frantically struggling against the rope that tied her to the chair. “Will someone PLEASE let me leave?!” “Nope,” the guard said, fiddling with their watch. “Sorry, Riri.” “Quasar…” Riri spat, scowling. “Why are you doing this? Aren’t you not like the others?!” “I’m doing this because it’s my job, genius,” he frowned in return. “Trust me, I’d love to let you go free right now, but I’m not risking my family’s safety for that.” Riri groaned. “You’re an idiot! They won’t actually hurt your family! I know that! They’ve threatened my parents multiple times! They’re nothing but empty—” “SHUT UP!” Quasar bellowed, slamming the door of the room behind him. “You’re spewing nonsense! My sister would still be alive right now if they truly did what you said!” “THE SILENCE ARE INSANE!” Riri retorted, screaming with frustration. “You and I BOTH know they’ve been doing business with my family. Don’t bother hiding it.” Quasar flinched. “What makes you say that?” Riri spluttered out a laugh. “Pfft, you think that I’m an idiot? I noticed ages ago. The Silence is the reason that Bixbite is gone.” Quasar gritted his teeth. “I don’t care about your friend. Just shut up and let me do my job, okay—” “Swampy will be in more danger than she is if you don’t stop the silence.” Quasar flinched. “Look, I couldn’t care less—” “The fact you two went on a date says otherwise.” Quasar dug his nails into his palm, forming his hand into a fist. “Riri, nothing will happen to Swampy. Rosetta swore on it.” “Rosetta breaks all of her promises. We all know this. Ask Corvus.” Quasar yanked the cell door open again. “I’ll be back soon. You will tell me how to enter the Bellman factory vaults then.” Riri grimaced. “Riiiiiight.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The corridor was damp with humidity, the dark only adding to it. Strangely enough, the hallway was only lit by glow sticks in pinks and blues. Toffee shivered as droplets of water hit the concrete flooring, a drastic contrast against the polished wood floors in the club. Noise could be heard in the background as Toffee continued to walk. “Is that…singing?” Toffee whispered to herself, listening to the noise more. It was enchanting but not extraordinarily so, not to the extent of hypnotism. After all, it WAS a siren’s voice. “Show me where to go, teach me what to say, push me into the mold that you think is safe…don’t leave me alone or I’ll lose my way…” The singing stopped as Toffee approached a silver curtain and she pushed it aside quicker than one could blink. “Hello?!” No sound. The singing had stopped. The room’s farthest wall was coated in TV screens, surveillance of every location one could imagine. A camera fixated on the Lofi club, one on the prep room of the RA stadium, one on Sarae’s booth, and more to count. Thousands of shelves were drilled into the walls, displaying millions of stuffed animals, ranging from fluffy sheep to realistic sharks. Sewing supplies were stashed anywhere one could imagine. A big, spinning chair in the center was where Toffee stormed for and skidded in front of it, only to reveal a small, scrawny teenager wearing a heavy, patchwork hoodie adorned with bear ears and felt teeth around the hoodie inside. The teenager seemed unfazed by Toffee’s sudden appearance. “Who are you?!” Toffee yelled, and the girl shrugged. “My name is Enchanted,” the girl said as she continued to pull thread through felt fabric to stitch the two pieces together. “Would you mind leaving? I’m rather busy.” “Not until I get answers!” Toffee exclaimed. “Who are you? Why this place? What goes on down here? Do you know what happened to Riri?!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Holy…” Thunderstorm breathed as she entered the plushie store. Swampy was close behind, eyes wide with shock. “This place is plushie heaven!” Swampy grinned. “I know, right?! I can’t even believe I found the right location!” “If you’re the smart navigator, where’s the entrance to the club?” Swampy’s confident aura faltered for a split second. “Well, I don’t exactly know where the entrance is—” “I can help,” a voice said from behind. The duo screeched for a split second and locked eyes with a smug Nova, mask over her mouth. “You want to get into the HH, yes?” Nova grinned. Well, I think she grinned. You can’t actually tell, but her eyes were smiling. Swampy nodded. “Please.” Nova bobbed her head and swept aside the silver curtain. “Follow me, ladies.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luana sat by herself in the bleachers of Rhythm Access, spectating the current match going on. Confidence soon walked over and sat next to her, handing over a box of popcorn. “Thanks, Confi,” Luana said with a calm voice and a smile. “Hey, who’re you rooting for?” Luana made a motion with her free hand towards the fighting platform. Two fighters swung around the platform, one easily recognizable: Murdoc. He swung a massive cudgel around as he moved to the beat of the song, Love Me Right by Amber Mark. It was an R&B round, after all. The opponent wasn’t as easy to recognize. He had coffee-stain colored skin and a short mop of dark brown hair, one streak being dyed a neon scarlet. He swung an…axe-guitar? around as he fought, attempting to hack at Murdoc’s hand. The song was drawing to an end and neither had lost their Forbidden Object yet. Confidence flinched as the two fighters continued to swing their hulking weapons at one another. “The axe-guitar dude is Jay, right? The jerk at your school?” Confidence asked, and Luana nodded. “Mhm. That boy is completely rude to everyone,” Luana said, clenching her fist together. “He’s sarcastic and snaps at everyone and is just plain awful.” “Well, what if he isn’t like that normally?” Confidence asked, only to be met with Luana’s shocked expression. “Ah!” Confidence exclaimed shortly. “I’m sorry. Never mind.” “S’okay,” Luana said as two otter paws clapped over her eyes. “Guess who?!” the attacker giggled, and Luana laughed back. “Gulfstream, come on out.” The otter-human hybrid vaulted over the row behind her and plopped right down into a chair next to Luana. “Thanks, Lulu. Hey, didn’t Hyperbole mention coming today?” “Hyperbole said she was busy,” Confidence said before Luana had a chance to respond. “She had work or something.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enchanted sighed, glancing up so her face was in the light. “Hyperbole, Mockingjay, Firework, you can come out now.” Three figures flung down from the rafters onto the ground, one landing with grace and precision, the second landing slightly off balance, and the last practically floated down. The first stood up, presumably Firework. She was tall and willowy, retaining a slender figure, with hair dyed neon pink tossed over her shoulder. She wore a bubblegum blue t-shirt and hot pink shorts with an oversized black jacket on top and sheer, black leggings underneath. The second crawled hastily to their feet, brushing their hair out of their face. Hyperbole swept a dark purple lock out of her eyes and dusted off her black tanktop and dark jeans. She gave a small grin to Toffee and a small wave. “Heya, Toff.” The third, Mockingjay, landed and tossed her flawlessly straight hair over her shoulder, dusting off her hoodie and capri pants. “Yo.” Enchanted sighed yet again. “She wants information on a siren. Riri Bellman. Do you have security footage of the Lofi club bathrooms?” Firework nodded and walked over to the massive screens, swiping through them until she reached the Lofi club. Panning through the time, she asked in a soft voice, “What time did she go missing?” “Uh,” Toffee said, thinking back to earlier. “About four o’clock?” Firework nodded. “Ah, here.” Toffee jogged over to the video input to see Riri washing her hands, only for a black-clad person to take her from behind and the two to disappear. Toffee’s jaw dropped in shock. “How…?” Mockingjay inhaled sharply and cursed. “The Silence.” Hyperbole walked over and looked at the screen. “Looks about right.” Toffee snapped her head over to look at Enchanted. “Well, what is The Silence?!” “The Silence is an organization focused on helping Earth-22 invade Beat. They’ve proved to be unsuccessful so far. Capturing Riri might play a part in their plan. Keep an eye out for black-cloaked people,” Enchanted said without flinching. “They have multiple bases stored everywhere.” “Isn’t there anything you people can do to help?” Toffee exclaimed. “You have cameras everywhere, you could’ve easily stopped them!” “I don’t care much for others,” Enchanted said. “This club could lock itself down and no one could scathe it for ten years. It’s protected by magic and the building itself is practically indestructible. “Why wouldn’t you care, though?! Why lock yourself in here to be protected? Couldn’t you let other people stay in here too?” “Toffee,” Mockingjay whispered, “You’re literally in the back room of a weapons market. Could you imagine what would happen if we let other people in here?” “They would take the weapons and not give thanks to us,” Enchanted said. “That’s why everyone has a plushie with them at all times. They’re robots and have the ability to knock a human fifty times their size unconscious.” Enchanted ruffled around in her pocket before handing Toffee a folded piece of leather. “Here’s your friend’s wallet. Keep an eye out for a girl with red hair, a blonde who controls water, and an ibex-human hybrid. Those are their most commonly seen members.” “Murdoc and Snowfall?!” Toffee exclaimed, but Firework shrugged and threw Toffee over her shoulder. “C’mon, time for you to leave.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Well. This is awkward." “You THINK?!” Ishmael hissed to Nyx, holding his hands up in the air. “You literally just turned an entire mob of teenage girls on us.” “Not the worst that’s happened,” Eureka shrugged as she raised her hands slowly. “Trust me.” Firework burst into the room, carrying Toffee over her shoulders like a rag doll. “Hey y’all, she’s yours.” Firework raised an eyebrow at all of the girls staring menacingly at the trio, pointing guns and knives and weapons of all sort. “Don’t hurt ‘em,” Firework said as she opened the curtain. “Now, get out. If you’re not part of the club, get out.” “Toffee, what the heck?!” a familiar voice exclaimed, revealed to be Thunderstorm springing to her feet. “Why are you in the HH?!” “We stalked her, you doof,” Swampy hissed. “You two, out!” Firework yelled, pointing for the exit. “Pfft, guys,” Nova laughed weakly, “How’d you sneak in?” “We all know it was you, Nova,” Violet called from across the room. “You do this all the time.” “Rats,” Nova exclaimed. A small buzz was heard and Nova checked her phone, which her jaw quickly dropped at the screen. “Tell Chan she needs to lock down,” Nova said, voice raising. “We’ve been discovered. Beat’s been discovered. We’re not safe.”